Author: FrankChance

Our annual celebration of Charles Dickens will be on Sunday, February 4, at Griffith Hall of the University of the Sciences, on 43rd street between Woodland Avenue and Kingsessing.

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Join us for dramatic readings from Dickens stories and letters, and for music of the era. Refreshments inspired by Victorian England will also be served, and we will finish the celebration by singing Happy Birthday at the Dickens (and Little Nell) Statue in Clark Park.

This event is free. family friendly, and open to the public.

Come and celebrate with us and you can be back at home watching the Superbowl Pregame Show at least two hours before the kickoff!

Our next Members Meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 17 from 7 PM in Griffith Hall of USciences.

The primary agenda item is discussion of the new dog policy established by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation. Highlights include the following:

A volunteer neighborhood group can petition to start a dog run in a park. There are currently seven. The group must establish that there is strong community support, & also that it is willing & able to maintain the run independently of PP&R.

A park group can also petition to establish a dog-free zone. This comes with signage & all.

A citywide animal-control team has been contracted by the city to respond to & deal with low-grade dog offenses & issues. There is a number people can call. The police will respond to actual attacks by dogs on humans.

Outside a dog run, the leash law is in effect. The leash must be 6′ or shorter.

There is a nice list of other commonsense dog dos & don’ts.

PP&R understands the culture of de facto off-leash dog areas like the Bowl & it will leave well enough alone. As long as “unpermitted” dog use takes place in an orderly way, without arousing problems in the community, PP&R has no intention of interfering.

Yesterday, I spent three hours as a volunteer bagging trash in B Park. I did this because we are between SMA’s (Seasonal Maintenance Associates), the summer season (funded by PP&R) having ended in October (with an extension to November 12) and the winter season (funded by UCD) having not begun yet. So for two weeks the trash cans have gone untended, and as many people have noticed, they are overflowing. I took the bags in the shed out and moved trash to the curb, putting in new bags, for a dozen or so of the cans around the Tot Lot and the bowl, until I ran out of bags and energy. While doing this I had some thoughts about trash in the park.

First, please remember that everything you leave in a trash can in Clark Park has to be moved to the curb by hand. There are no machines that come in and empty the cans (though the SMA uses a wheelbarrow). In an ideal world we would like park users to take their trash with them, though we know that is unlikely. But there are things you can do to help the situation. If you are throwing away a water bottle, empty it first. The trees need the water more than the trash truck does, and liquids are heavy.

Second, household trash has no place in park trash cans. This applies equally to automotive trash, such as old tires, and to construction debris. The SMA has enough work to do dealing with trash generated in the park, without having to deal with stuff brought in from elsewhere.

Third, if you have a party or a picnic in the park, please bring your own trash bags. Ideally you should take that trash out of the park when you leave, but if you fill them and leave them beside the trash cans it is easy for the SMA to deal with it. But if you put 30 dirty plates and cups into a trash bag, it is filled up and can’t be used by others. So please add trash bags to your shopping list for parties in the park.

The next meeting of the Friends of Clark Park Membership will be Monday, October 19, 2015, from 7 PM. The meeting will be held in n Griffith Hall Lecture Room A, 600 S. 43rd Street, on the University of the Sciences Campus.

There are two main items on the agenda. We will start with our annual business meeting, with elections scheduled for President, Vice President, Secretary, and half of our Board Members. We will launch into a discussion of trash removal and associated problems. Finally, we will announce the various upcoming projects including folding chair replacement, new Chess Tables (to be installed with revitalized stone fines for the Plaza area) and planning for the Party for the Park next spring.

Please let me know if you have any questions or want further information.

Based on the responses to the When2Meet, the best time for this committee meeting is this coming Thursday, June 7, at 6 PM. I will try to arrange a room at Rosenberger Hall in the southern part of Clark Park. Please feel free to join us then to discuss what parts of Clark Park are best suited to particular activities. This is a public meeting open to anyone who would like to participate in the process, but we are particularly interested in the opinions of folks who participate in relatively unorganized activities such as pick-up soccer, volleyball, slackline balancing, frisbee, catch, etc.
You can contact me at chancefl@gmail.com if you have further questions.

We will be meeting in the plaza of the north park, at 43rd & Baltimore Ave. Rain location: the Green Line Cafe.

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Friends of Clark Park cordially invite you to join Deputy Mayor Michael DiBerardinis, state officials and multiple community partners in celebrating the re-opening of Clark Park (“A” Park).

Clark Park, located at South 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue, has undergone a major physical and environmental revitalization over the past several months through significant investments by the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The celebration will start at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 16th and will include “A Taste of the Market”, a sampling of products from the successful Clark Park Farmers Market that operates in the park every Thursday and Saturday. We look forward to you joining us that day and ask that you RSVP to Barbara McCabe at barbara.mccabe@phila.gov or (215) 683-3679.

Friends, we often walk through the park and notice that the trash and recycling bins are full. Our SMA (Seasonal Maintenance Associate) does his best to keep up with them, but especially when the weather is bad, or on long weekends (like this one) he can fall behind. By the way, the summer SMA (Thomas) works full-time in Clark Park, and the winter SMA (Doug) works part-time at Clark Park and part time at Malcolm X Park. Their salaries and benefits are paid for by the Parks & Recreation Department and the University City District, and they do a good job of keeping the parks tidy.
However, you can help them a lot. If the trash cans are full, DO NOT put trash (other than cans and bottles) into the recycling cans! On the other hand, if you go by a trash can that is full of cans and bottles, you can always move them into the recycling! And, if you are part of a gathering, picnic, or other event in the park, the best way to handle trash and recycling is to take them out with you. Next best is to bring a trash bag with you and leave your refuse tied up beside the cans in the park. That way the cans do not fill up too quickly. Last but not least, if you notice a lot of trash, a phone call or email to one of the groups that help take care of the park (Parks&Rec, UCD, USP, or FoCP) can alert us and we can take appropriate action.
See you in Clark Park!
Frank L. Chance, Past President

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